Storytelling vs Humor

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Kindra knows the challenges executives, top performers and brands experience as they try to capture attention in a crowded marketplace. Kindra is former Vice President of Sales for a multi-million dollar enterprise, national champion storyteller, 2014 Storytelling World Award recipient, a former board member of the National Storytelling Network, and she earned her Master’s Degree in Organizational Communication and Management conducting original research that examined the role of storytelling in organizational socialization.
Kindra has been seen in Glamour Magazine, Success Magazine and Entrepreneur.com and has worked with innovative brands like ConAgra, Stryker and Rodan & Fields to use the irresistible power of storytelling to capture attention and connect in a distracted marketplace. Kindra has become a conference favorite for her clients who invite her back for consecutive annual events. Her presentations include revealing research, eye-opening case studies and, of course, stories attendees will remember and retell long after the event ends. Audiences leave inspired and motivated to apply Kindra’s actionable content.

Transcript
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"What is a cow playing an instrument doing?" my six-year-old son asked at the dinner table. "I don't know, what?" I responded. "He's making mooo-sic." My son then burst into laughter, completely taken by his own humor. I, too, let out a chuckle because a first grade kid's sense of humor is funny. What isn't funny? A grown man or woman trying to use jokes or “humor” to enhance their communications or “get attention” – whether in writing or speaking or memos or whatever. Now, it's one thing if humor comes naturally to you in which case "trying to be funny" advice is a moo-point (see what I did there?). However, if you are not funny by nature, forced humor will only highlight that underdeveloped trait and undermine your authenticity and subsequently, your authority. Yikes! If you’ve ever wished you were funnier or quicker-witted – let me put those laments to rest. You have something better! Storytelling. Think about it. First, stories are easier than jokes… Good jokes are hard. The long ones usually aren't worth the pay off, the short ones make it tough to stick the landing, and in either case you run the highly-probable risk of alienating half of your audience as jokes are often told at someone's expense. And in the age of social media, a bad joke can quickly become a public relations nightmare. It's simply not worth the risk. If humor is your goal, a better option (and a safer one) is telling a story. Stories are engaging, persuasive and most BONUS… can be funny. However, again, don’t let “being funny,” be your first concern. PRO TIP: Instead of telling a "funny" story, focus on telling a familiar one. I use this strategy for every presentation I give. Before each one, I think about something I have in common with the audience; something we can laugh at together. For example, recently I spoke for an event in my home state of Minnesota. I told the story of the first time I brought my Southern Californian husband to Minneapolis in the winter and how fascinated he was by the skyways that connected the buildings downtown. The audience chuckled at the image of a grown man surviving a Minnesota winter for the first time. There was no slap-stick in that story and it didn't need it. The story was funny because the audience could picture it so clearly, it was so familiar – it was their reality. The more FAMILIAR you can be, the FUNNIER it will be. Whether you are a funny person or not, if the story rings true for the audience in a funny way, the audience will chuckle. They will connect with the irony or the frivolity or the reality of the story. This type of laughter also carries more weight -- they are not laughing at you or your material, they are laughing about something within themselves which makes the enjoyment more meaningful. And if you can't think of a familiar story to tell that particular audience, don't resort to a joke. Instead, tell a different story that is universally familiar. My last piece of advice for you on humor vs. storytelling is this: Don’t TRY to be funny… LEARN to be funny.